Five Beaufort County School District high school students have made it to the final round in a national scholarship program.

Three Beaufort High students -- Michael Alexander Cook, Adam Lipsitz and Reagan Palmer --- and two Hilton Head Island High School students -- Alexander Reamy and Marianna Parlagreco -- are among 15,000 students nationwide that have been named finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program.

The students will compete for 8,300 college scholarships totaling more than $32 million, according to a news release from the school district.

Students qualify for the National Merit program by scoring well on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. To become finalists, students submitted applications that detailed their academic records, participation in school and community activities, leadership abilities, honors and awards. They had to be endorsed by their high school, write an essay and earn SAT scores that live up to their performance on the PSAT.

Merit Scholarship winners are expected to be announced next month.